More in the illustrious 2011 striped knit frenzy; this is a basic red and gray striped hat I quickly knitted up in a few hours as a gift for a friend but fell madly in love and so made him a different one so I could keep this. I usually make things with friends in mind; it was really satisfying to keep something for myself.

Since then, I’ve played off this original and done a few other ones; one with larger stripes, one with a bigger pom. Addicted, for sure, and shots of those coming, as well.

The gorgeous The Broom of the System by the incredible genius, David Foster Wallace. The language and structure of this novel are incredible and the storytelling is playful and brilliant. This book has been sitting on my shelf for awhile, awaiting its turn.

I’m really getting into cross stitch (not that I need anymore time-consuming addictions) and am nearing the finish line on this trout for my mum. I have a rustic black frame to house it in when its done so that she can hang it in her lakehouse.

She likes decorating with classic lake fish, so the trout makes perfect sense. The colorway is gorgeous and since this snap was taken yesterday, I completed the upper fins and most of the inner section, as well as the head. Should be done this evening; snaps when its finished.

One of my little knitters has been feverishly working for a week on Valentines gifts for Mum, Dad, and friends. C. ended up making these winged hearts; the one pictured above is for Mum and you can see on her face how pleased and excited she is with the end result.

Nothing is better in knitting than that moment of realization: “I made that!” C. definitely had that excitable moment with this project and I was lucky enough to capture it.

Started this gorgeous lime-ish yellow green and dark gray hat for my best friend Derek yesterday and its already finished and blocking, ready for shipment in his Valentine’s package.

I love sending my friends small little boxes for this particularly gimmicky holiday; this simple striped hat was so quick to knit but so delicious when finished, I’ve already cast on for another one in a different colorway. The six friends on the list for packages better be pleased!

Snaps of the finished product before its shipped; hopefully, too, once its safely on owner’s head, as well.

In honor of last Wednesday’s snow day (and it being called the evening before!), I stayed up late Tuesday night watching It Happened One Night whilst wading through my stash in search of something that might sing to chunky knitwear. I’ve been on chunky-knit obsessions in years past, but hadn’t picked up a project like this in awhile.

That is until I stumbled upon Wool and the Gang, and for all obvious reasons, wanted to (re)join the chunky knit game.

I hosted Mack to a decadent breakfast-for-dinner on Friday night, before we danced all of it off over vodkas and the gorgeous Swedish pop of Robyn. The menu included: eggs benedict with uncured turkey bacon, homemade lemon hollandaise drizzled about everything, roasted asparagus, and fresh cut southern style hash browns.

Of course, someone told me that bottle of champagne I’ve been holding onto for an exciting life moment was holding me back and giving me bad luck, so we decided Friday night was the perfect opportunity to get this champagne elephant out of my kitchen. Popped, bellinis indulged in, as all 27 year old women having breakfast-for-dinner parties should. And I might feel more free now that I know its been guzzled for good measure.

In the venerable words of Robyn, Mack and I certainly are now dancing on our own. Cork it.

There’s nothing tastier than homemade English muffins. So when my best friend Mack came over for dinner Friday night, we decided on decadent breakfast complete with eggs benedict, hashbrowns and all that hoo.

Emeril’s Homemade English Muffin recipe is the best one I’ve ever tried; and its glorious that these muffins are fried in a dry skillet. If you want your eggs benedict to really taste amazing, make these. You won’t regret it.